a.d. VIII Id. Dec.
December 6 in Ancient Rome
Clergy freed from extra burdens
religionAD 357
Julian date · ≈ Dec 7 on our calendar
Constantius II, writing to Bishop Felix, freed clergy from unjust levies and menial public duties, and protected the earnings of clerics in trade when used for the poor.
Constantius II
Background
In the fourth century Christian clergy gained many legal privileges from the emperors. Town councillors and other wealthy citizens were liable for heavy public duties (munera): collecting taxes, maintaining roads, providing transport or labour. Many tried to escape these burdens by becoming clergy, and the emperors repeatedly passed laws on who could claim exemption.
This law of 6 December 357, addressed to Bishop Felix, freed clergy from unjust levies and from "sordid" compulsory services, such as providing labour or animals for public works. It also protected clerics who earned money in trade, provided their profits went to support the poor and needy.
The law shows how the church was becoming a welfare institution: bishops ran poor relief, care for widows and orphans, and hospitality for strangers. For the urban poor, church distributions could be an important supplement to scarce food and work.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 16.2.14 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 13°/6°C (55°/43°F) · rain 38% of days
Rome in DecemberDecember's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December).
Columella
Signals a storm. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Olive picking and pressing, wood-cutting, and indoor work on rainy days; sowing ideally finished by the Kalends per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts closed for the Saturnalia; quaestors gave gladiatorial shows in December in late antiquity per the Chronography of 354.
Senate & politics
New tribunes of the plebs entered office on 10 December; outgoing magistrates closed their accounts before the year ended Republic.
Military
Winter quarters. Soldiers too kept the Saturnalia, choosing a mock 'king' per the Acts of Dasius, a late and disputed martyr text.
Festivals & religion
Faunalia (5 Dec.), Agonalia and Septimontium (11 Dec.), Consualia (15 Dec.), Saturnalia (from 17 Dec.), Opalia (19 Dec.), Divalia (21 Dec.), Larentalia (23 Dec.), and later the birthday of Sol Invictus (25 Dec.).
Daily life
December's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December). Business stopped, people wore the casual pilleus cap and gave small gifts, and households let enslaved people eat with, or even be served by, their owners per Macrobius 1.7, Seneca Ep. 47. Seneca, though, notes that the inversion lasted only days; the rest of the year enslaved people stood silent and hungry while masters dined, and could be beaten for a cough per Seneca, Ep. 47. Seneca himself grumbled that the whole city "sweats" with feasting Seneca, Ep. 18.
On farms, olives were picked and pressed, and enslaved workers repaired tools and baskets on rainy days per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Chronography of 354 · Seneca, Epistles 18 and 47 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7–10
All days in December →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Cras te victurum, cras dicis, Postume, semper.
“You say you'll live tomorrow, Postumus, always tomorrow.”
Martial, Epigrams 5.58 · translation ours (literal)
